Suddenly he shook his head. What was he thinking? It must be the effect of the faerie scent. He had a duty to the colonists on Kyffin and she was a starship captain. As soon as they returned to Tau Delta, she’d be gone, glad to leave the two of them behind her. It was enough to slake his aching loneliness between her legs while he could. He had to guard his heart from her enchantments, or he’d be hurt again.
At his side, Ange smiled and stroked the warm, muscled flesh of his thigh. He liked her smile when she was relaxed. So shy and tender. She put on a tough exterior, but he wasn’t fooled. This was a woman who cared.
The kind of woman he needed.
He pushed the thought from his mind.
As her palm slid down his thigh in a long caress, he spoke. “Do you realize you’re the first visitor to Kyffin in ten years?”
She laughed. “Good thing they don’t depend on the tourist trade.”
He turned to search her face. A stray golden curl dipped down to half cover one eye. She looked like a pixie. The thought struck fear into his heart. What if the faeries had purposefully drawn her to Kyffin? They were not human—they were powerful beings with their own purposes. Ryol was a fool to meddle in their affairs.
He forced himself to voice his fear. “I’m beginning to believe the gods want you here for their own purposes. Maybe they used my brother to get you to Kyffin. If it weren’t for him and his damned perfume, you’d never have come near this place.”
“That’s true.” She shrugged. “The abandoned worlds are dangerous, usually more trouble than they’re worth.”
He traced the sweet curve of her jaw with a careful finger. Her skin warmed his fingertips. “I’m sorry I got you involved in this.”
She looked at him with sudden pity. “You didn’t have a lot of choice, I suppose. I’m about the only captain foolish enough to fly into the Abandoned Zone.”
He stroked her cheek. He couldn’t keep his hands off her. Would the effect of her scent ever wear off? Not that he wanted it to. “It’s incredibly brave of you.”
She squirmed. “Or foolhardy. And it’s not like I have a crew to risk. There’s only Jake.” She smiled at the thought of the android. “I’d better not stay here much longer. Jake might miss me and come looking.”
Blane laughed and leered at her breasts. His hands settled over her shoulders as he drew her up against his chest. “Well, we can’t have Jake finding his captain in a compromised position, can we?”
He was so strong. Her intimate parts throbbed at the memory of the masterful way he’d gripped her butt and pulled her hard against him as he thrust into her. She ached from the pounding of his phallus in her depths, but it was a pleasant ache. This whole experience seemed like an erotic dream, but he, at least, was solid and real.
Feeling an unexpected self-consciousness, she pulled away and folded her arms across her chest. She lifted her chin, wondering how she could get up and retrieve her clothes with a modicum of dignity. “I’ve noticed your people have done little since the original buildings went up,” she said to fill the sudden silence.
His mouth quirked. “Little! It’s obvious you’ve never lived on a world. The people here have to work day and night to survive. There aren’t enough of them left to do the work that needs to be done to make the village thrive.”
She bit her lip. “What about you? You’re not thinking of staying here, are you?” What the hell, it was none of her business but she had to know—before she got too involved in fantasies about the voyage back. Already she was having flashes, visions of him coming into her cabin at night, undressing her and enfolding her in his arms as they snuggled close on her narrow bed.
He drummed his fingers on the desktop, his face thoughtful while he searched for words.
“You might not understand, but I love Kyffin. It’s a harsh and unforgiving world, but it was my home. And nothing could ever equal the joy I’ve felt watching the faeries. Still, it’s their world, not ours. We don’t belong here. So the short answer is, yes, I will be going back. All of us should leave. This world belongs to the Fa’erie.”
“The Fa’erie?” She frowned at the strange pronunciation.
“That’s what the faeries were called in ancient times on Earth. It means the Green People. Because they were seen, if at all, in the forests and the meadows.”
She looked at him in amazement. “You’re a fountain of arcane knowledge.”
He spread his hands wide. “As you can imagine, there is not much in the way of amusement on Kyffin at night. I used to spend my evenings studying the old computer files brought by the original settlers so I could learn more about the universe. And since then, I’ve consulted sources on many worlds.”
“What makes you think the colonists will want to leave?”
“They’re tired of eking out a living. But more than that, they want a better life for their children, and they know there’s no future on Kyffin. Their numbers have fallen below sustainable levels.”
“Isn’t Ryol afraid his secret will leak out if they all go back to Tau Delta?”
Blane gave her a rueful grin. “That’s the strange thing. It seems the faeries only appear to certain people—to me, to be precise. The rest of the colonists don’t suspect the true secret of Kyffin. Sharlene’s kept her mouth shut all these years. As for Ryol, he cares only for what he gathers in the meadow. Whatever the faeries do, we should not interfere. Humanity should leave Kyffin, but instead, if Ryol has his way, others will eventually come here. He must be stopped before he goes too far.”
She leaned forward, disturbed by the fervor in his voice. Her fingers touched his hand. “I am beginning to understand why you oppose him. But he’s my passenger and his safety is my concern. If you intend to do something to stop him, you’ll have to deal with me first.”
“Not altogether a bad prospect.” Blane’s eyes sparkled with an amusement that seemed to contradict the seriousness of his words a few moments ago. Ange wondered if perhaps she’d overreacted. Ryol hadn’t seemed worried and they were brothers.
Blane swept up her hand and kissed it. “I love dealing with you, my sweet Ange.”
My sweet Ange. The words warmed her heart. Frowning, she reminded herself that whatever he was feeling it was because of her own unexplained scent, not because he’d freely chosen her. Gods only knew what they would feel for each other if the compelling scents they both emitted were to vanish.
But at least he understood what it was like to live knowing those who claimed they loved you were not in their right mind. Not to mention the fact that he was handsome and sexy and had a sense of humor. Until she found a way she could override the scent, she could do a lot worse than hooking up with Blane Llewelyn.
His fingers stroked her cheek, reassuring her. “No need to worry. I’m not a violent man. I’ll deal with my brother in my own way.”
Ange shuddered at the look of determination on his face. “You almost convince me these faeries are real.”
He tilted his head to one side. “You think we’re making this up?”
“There’s one way to find out.” She glanced out the window at the mountain peaks visible above the treetops.
To her surprise, his face darkened. His hand dropped away from her cheek. “Don’t even think of going to see the faeries. It’s far too dangerous.”
“Oh, I don’t know.” She brushed back a curl that hung in front of her eyes with a flip of her hand. He was so damned serious whenever these alleged faeries came up. She decided to tease him. It had been a long time since she’d dared to flirt with a male for fear of the reaction she might provoke. His reaction she already knew. It showed in his still-erect penis and the possessive look on his face when she hinted she might go up to the meadow.
Besides, there was a certain sense of freedom that came with knowing she’d never see this man again once she delivered him safely back to Tau Delta. In the meantime, he understood that the terrible attraction she emitted was not her but another force at work.
She fixed him with a sultry look designed to heat his blood. “Maybe I’ll see these faeries for myself. I’m curious to find out what really goes on up in that meadow.” As she spoke she leaned forward, the tips of her breasts brushing against his arm.
His gaze flamed with sudden desire. She laughed in delight. For once her strange ability to arouse men was a gift, not a curse.
He leaned closer, his body heat enveloping her in an erotic cocoon. She smelled his rich, masculine scent and a sudden languor swept over her. Her eyelids fluttered and her mouth softened, inviting his kiss.
“You don’t need whatever gifts the Fa’erie have given you, Ange Bennett. You’re a beautiful woman. So beautiful.”
A dark cloud passed over her heart, turning her bones cold. She’d heard these words so many times before. She forced another laugh but the joy she’d felt moments ago vanished. She didn’t want him to be like all the other men, helpless in the grip of her—what had he called it earlier?—her glamour. What did she want then? Love.
Her mouth twisted in a bitter line. Impossible. She had to get away from this man before they both got hurt. She made her voice harsh. “I’m probably the only woman available on this forsaken planet.”
Blane sat up straight and crossed his arms across his chest. Her voice had turned cold, where a moment ago she’d been flushed, relaxed. He wondered what he’d said to bring about this change. Regardless, she needn’t think he was desperate for a woman.
“There are several women on Kyffin who would welcome me in their beds.”
He didn’t add that they were married to other men, or that he had decided years ago never to marry. Women didn’t like to hear that. And it was none of her business anyway. He believed it was wrong to bring a child who might inherit his curse into the world. Someday, gods willing, he’d find a woman who loved him for himself. Knowing Ange shared the same problem had given him hope. But the icy stare she shot his way was enough to chill a man’s bones. What had happened to the woman who’d writhed under him in the throes of her orgasm only minutes ago?
Sadness gripped his heart. Was their shared passion only an illusion brought on by the Fa’erie glamour? He wanted so desperately to feel something real. He’d hoped she’d understand, but he could feel her withdrawing back behind her protective walls. Maybe that was for the best. She would hate him once she learned the real reason he’d returned to Kyffin.
She rose to her feet. A cold look had replaced the flirtatious laughter in her eyes. “I’m glad to hear your love life won’t suffer noticeably from my departure.”
He stood up and looked down at the shining curls of her hair. The anger in her voice was unmistakable. Was she jealous? He could have sworn the warmth in her eyes was genuine and then, without warning, she’d stiffened and the temperature in the warehouse had dropped noticeably. Why had she backed off? Women were a mystery, and it didn’t help that his scent drove them beyond the bounds of sanity. Ange Bennett was attractive enough to have lovers on a dozen worlds. And with her powers of glamour, she probably did. He’d best forget her and concentrate on his plan to protect the Fa’erie from his brother’s greed.
He lifted her chin with his hand and stared into her face. He was a head taller than her. “This was a mistake. We have less in common than I thought.”
She jerked away from his touch. Ignoring him, she bent over and began pulling on her clothes.
“I’ve enjoyed our dalliance,” he added awkwardly, “The women here on the colony grew accustomed to my scent finally, but I stay away from most women. It’s not fair to them.”
She stiffened and paused with her pants half way up her thighs. He swallowed at the sight of her golden pubic hair. Her bare breasts jiggled as she started pulling up her pants again.
“And it’s fair to me?” Ange turned her back and finished fastening her pants, then pulled on her bra and blouse. When she turned around again, gun holster in her hand, he stood unmoving, his magnificent body still nude. She looked upward to avoid the sight of the stiff flesh jutting outward from his body and found herself staring into his compelling gaze instead.
His eyes shone down on her with conviction. “We both know what happened between us is chemical. Who else would ever understand that?”
Hurt sliced through her like a hot blade. “What are you saying? That I’m better than nothing? Forget it.”
His face darkened with disappointment. “You’re putting words in my mouth. You haven’t given me a whole lot of chances to get close to you, but what I’ve seen, I’ve really liked. You must sense that.”
She shook her head. He was so close she could smell his masculine odor. She fastened her gun strap over her shoulder and pulled on her jacket, trying to ignore the empty feeling between her legs now that he was gone. The deep violet of his eyes filled her vision. After endless years of sleeping alone in a narrow bunk, she tasted hunger again. His body called to hers. She longed to feel his arms crushing her to him, longed to taste that generous mouth once more. From the slight flush high on his cheekbones, she imagined he suffered from the same longings.
Scent of Magic, indeed. Glamour was nothing more than her body chemistry gone somehow awry, emitting hormones that triggered sexual desire in males. He apparently had the same problem only his scent affected women. It was a strange coincidence that they’d met, but no stranger than a belief in faeries. The power of one sex over the other was as old as time. Some genetic quirk had cursed them both with more than the usual dose.
Avoiding his gaze, she finished dressing and strode toward the door of the warehouse. She wasn’t about to get involved with a dirt ball male—one who had more than enough problems of his own.
“I have to get back to my ship,” she told him with a wave.
He stood nude beside the desk not brothering to cover his lean male body. His eyes seemed to mock her. Did he think she was a coward for running away from their fierce attraction?
He lifted his own hand in a salute. “See to your ship then. And if you want to be safe, stay on board when the moons rise together.”
Chapter Nine
With her lander in stealth mode, Ange flew low to the ground in a wide arc that avoided the settlement. Once she was out of sight of anyone in the buildings, she turned the lander’s nose north toward the higher mountain slopes. Ryol had claimed the faeries appeared in a meadow up there.
She skimmed the treetops, still uncertain about the wisdom of her course. Ryol had clearly not wanted her anywhere near the meadow and his business was his own. She had a feeling the former spacer turned merchant with the cold black eyes was more than able to take care of himself. Yet, if she stayed on the ship, she would remain in the dark about whatever had really brought Ryol back to this world. She didn’t want to risk that.
Blane claimed the faeries were real, too. Unless this whole story was an elaborate ploy, what reason would he have to lie to her? Maybe the two brothers were really working together and laughing at her behind her back. That was okay, though. She was used to running her own show. She’d conduct her reconnaissance in secret and make a decision after she knew more.
She didn’t worry about finding the meadow in the dark. That afternoon she’d sneaked into Ryol’s cabin and implanted a microtransmitter into the backpack that sat ready to go on his bed. The signal showed up loud and clear on her control screen.
She sat back in her pilot’s chair and admired the view of the night sky from her lander. Kyffin was located closer to the heart of the galaxy than the Federation and the heavens blazed with stars. Far away on the distant horizon, a pale shimmer edged the tops of the mountain peaks. As Ange watched, the two moons rose together to the north. One half again as large as the other, they spilled a silvery river of light across the sharp peaks as they ascended into the sky. They would be visible until nearly dawn. The time for the faeries to appear was fast approaching. This was her chance to find out why Ryol had returned to this remote dirt ball.
She scowled as she circled the lander u
p the mountainside, watching for any sign of a clearing in the thick forest below. Ryol must think she was an idiot. Of course, grounders believed spacers were a superstitious lot—maybe he actually thought she would buy into his story about faeries.
No doubt Ryol had heard some of the wild, superstitious tales that spacers told while he’d been on the trader ship. That was probably why he thought she’d fall for such a preposterous story. But she wasn’t as ignorant as most of the men and women who sailed the great starships. Her mother had seen to it that she’d gotten an education that went beyond the skills required of a Class II engineer.
The Fa’erie story was a scam, had to be. Maybe he told it to the people who bought Scent of Magic to give the perfume an exotic mystique. But she’d be willing to bet her profit for this trip that the truth was far more ordinary. Probably Ryol had discovered a plant that grew only in that meadow, and that was the source of Scent of Magic. If so, she would gather a specimen for herself and turn it in to the authorities as soon as they reached a civilized planet. She wasn’t going to risk her license, no matter how much money he offered her.
The two moons sailed higher, sending a clear, cold light over the forested slopes. As Ange dropped closer to the ground to avoid being seen, she considered one other explanation of Ryol’s weird tale. It was a remote possibility, but one that lit a fire in her spacer blood. What if Ryol actually had seen the shining beings he’d described—beings who weren’t faeries at all. What if an alien race existed in a dimension parallel to this one and knew how to travel between them—a race that knew about humans but managed to keep hidden from humanity. On every world she’d visited there were legends of luminous beings that appeared and vanished—faeries on Earth, the Shaatral on Mersas, the D’viva on Luxen, and others from a hundred worlds she could name. When they were described, all were eerily similar in appearance: golden skin with a pale green tint to it, a radiant light surrounding them, the dark slanted eyes, the pointed ears and all of them, oddly, human-sized.
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